As you can see after reading the articles, it’s imperative and in America’s best interests to stop playing games with its military budget and wasting time with focusing on thousands of individual terrorists that multiply after their death.

The US relies on its network of satellites to maintain a strategic edge over rivals. This makes a target-rich environment for space-based weapons. Photo: screenshot of Nasa image.

Arsenal including electromagnetic railguns and microwave weapons aims to neutralize web of satellites that give US its main strategic edge

China’s military is developing powerful lasers, electromagnetic railguns and high-power microwave weapons for use in a future “light war” involving space-based attacks on satellites.

The idea of a space-based laser gun was disclosed in the journal Chinese Optics in December 2013 by three researchers, Gao Ming-hui, Zeng Yu-quang and Wang Zhi-hong. All work for the Changchun Institute for Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics – the leading center for laser weapons technology.

“In future wars, the development of ASAT [anti-satellite] weapons is very important,” they wrote. “Among those weapons, laser attack system enjoys significant advantages of fast response speed, robust counter-interference performance and a high target destruction rate, especially for a space-based ASAT system. So the space-based laser weapon system will be one of the major ASAT development projects.”

The researchers propose building a 5-ton chemical laser that will be stationed in low-earth orbit as a combat platform capable of destroying satellites in orbit. Given funding by the Chinese military, which is in charge of China’s space program, the satellite-killing laser could be deployed by 2023.

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The article also reveals that in 2005, the Chinese conducted a test of a ground-based laser weapon that was used to “blind” an orbiting satellite.

“In 2005, we have successfully conducted a satellite-blinding experiment using a 50-100 kilowatt capacity mounted laser gun in Xinjiang province,” the three researchers wrote. “The target was a low orbit satellite with a tilt distance of 600 kilometers. The diameter of the telescope firing the laser beam is 0.6 meters wide. The accuracy of [acquisition, tracking and pointing is less than 5 [microradians].”

Richard Fisher, a China military specialist at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, disclosed the existence of the laser weapons program in US congressional testimony last month.

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China’s space program is dual-use — supporting both civilian and military needs. For example, China’s Shenzhou and Tiangong manned spacecraft were used to perform military missions. China’s coming space station and plans for a future base on the moon also will have military applications. It is conceivable that China could launch an orbiting laser gun disguised as a scientific module.

“The Chinese government would not hesitate to use the lives of its astronauts as a shield to deceive the world about the real purpose of its space station,” Fisher says.

“Having gained the advantage of surprise, the combat space station could begin attacks against key US satellites, thus blinding the US to the launch of new combat satellites that would attack many more US satellites.”

Developing dedicated space combat system is in line with China’s long-term goal of achieving global strategic ascendency. Fisher believes the threat of Chinese space weapons is more than notional and that the US should respond by developing its own space warfare capabilities.

China has been working on developing laser weapons since the 1960s, and the People’s Liberation Army in 2015 published the book Light War that gives a central role to fighting a future war using lasers.

The book argues that future warfare will be dominated by combing Big Data analytics – a specialty of Chinese military cyber warriors with artificial intelligence and directed energy weapons. According to Light War, deploying robot laser weapons in space is needed since directed energy will dominate the battlefields in 30 years.

“Perhaps the PLA is already reconfiguring for such a new era inasmuch as a major mission for the PLA’s new Strategic Support Force may be to lead the weaponization of the information realm and outer space,” Fisher says.

The Chinese effort could neutralize decades of investment by the United States in its own directed-energy weapons, including lasers, electromagnetic railguns and high-power microwave arms. The Pentagon in the past developed an airborne laser for use in missile defenses and railguns are expected to be deployed in the early 2020s. High-powered compact laser guns are slated for the 2030s.